Friday, April 09, 2004
Stolen
...from Mustang Bobby at Bark Bark Woof Woof .
1: Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says:
"Cats disappear with Brian around, so family no longer bothers coming up with original names like Whiskers."
2: Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first?
A set of tax documents on the desk.
3: What is the last thing you watched on TV?
"Whose Line is it Anyway?", with Greg Proups, Wayne Brady, Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie, hosted by Drew Carry.
4: WITHOUT LOOKING, guess what the time is:
10:08 PM.
5: Now look at the clock; what is the actual time?
10:12 PM.
6: With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
Nothing but the electronic hum of silence, probably caused by the lightbulbs on in a silent room.
7: When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
Around 6:30 PM today, to water the lawn.
8: Before you came to this website, what did you look at?
Atrios's web site. And I found the list on Mustang Bobby's web site.
9: What are you wearing?
Workout shorts.
10: Did you dream last night?
No.
11: When did you last laugh?
Watching "Whose Line" when Ryan Stiles imitated The Crocodile Hunter.
12: What is on the walls of the room you are in?
Nothing except a clock. Since we moved in in October, the walls of the den are completely bare...which is how I like it.
13: Seen anything weird lately?
Nah. Nashville's not a place for weirdness.
14: What do you think of this quiz?
Well, gotta fill the blog with something.
15: What is the last film you saw?
"Hellboy", last weekend in the theatre, and it kicked ass.
16: If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?
A new home for my parents.
17: Tell me something about you that I don't know.
Major fan of the cartoon "Daria".
18: If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
End world hunger.
19: Do you like to dance?
No, not really.
20: George Bush: is he a power-crazy nutcase or some one who is finally doing something that has needed to be done for years?
Neither. He's a self-deluding man, the worst kind of delusion.
21: Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
Miranda.
22: Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
Ethan, or Gabriel.
23: Would you ever consider living abroad?
Yes.
posted by Green Voicemail 4/09/2004 10:22:00 PM
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
The War President
From Michael Moore. "A picture is worth a thousand words...or six hundred and thirty-eight lives."
posted by Green Voicemail 4/07/2004 10:48:00 PM
Time to Get Ready
Look at this jewel I found from, of all places, Lew Rockwell (ugh). I'll state that the link is at this location , you are under no obligation to follow it.
The Title:
How To Stay Out of the Military
(Primer on Draft Resistance)
by David Wiggins
You can read the rest if you are an American male between the ages of 18 and 26. The most important paragraph:
On a percentage basis, not registering is the most likely way to prevent you from being drafted. The book Chance and Circumstance states that between 250,000 and 2 million males did not register for the draft during the Vietnam War. According to reports from the Selective Service System, forty percent of the men who are required to register for the draft don't register in the sixty-day time period required by law. At least one or two percent still haven't registered by the time they are twenty. At age 26 they are no longer allowed to register. Thus, the number of permanent non-registrants increases daily. There is a known minimum of at least 300,000 people, perhaps a million, who are becoming permanent non-registrants.
If you refuse to register with Selective Service, you'll receive threatening letters, at first politely reminding you to register, then threatening prosecution, finally informing you that your name has been turned over to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution. These sound scary, but they're mostly bluff. No one has been formally charged since 1986.
In the early 1980s, 21 men were indicted for refusal to register: 19 of those 21 were public resisters. Wherever there were trials, the rates of registration actually went down. This resistance halted prosecutions.
Read carefully. It may save your life from being taken by Boy George.
posted by Green Voicemail 4/07/2004 06:34:00 PM
Monday, April 05, 2004
Bush Vows to Capture Iraqi Cleric
There's a link here. The shorter version:
"As I understand, the CPA today announced a warrant for his arrest. This is one person -- or this is a person and followers who are trying to say, 'We do not want democracy. As a matter of fact, we will decide the course of democracy by the use of force.'And that is the opposite of democracy. And that is why the CPA issued the statement they issued," Bush said.
Other quotes from Boy George:
"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him."
Oops. Need the other quote, don't I?
"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
posted by Green Voicemail 4/05/2004 08:51:00 PM
Sunday, April 04, 2004
Translating for Conservatives
From
Kathleen Parker
"Americans have the appealing if self-defeating habit of projecting their values onto others who haven't enjoyed centuries of self-enlightenment. But we learn and mean well.
What we know, and what we tell the rest of the world by our steadfastness, is that we will help even the unworthy; we will not back down from a just cause even when appalled and afraid; we mean what we say."
Translation: "We're going to liberate you...to death. And we're going to call it 'democracy'. You didn't rise up against Saddam Hussein, therefore you'll have bravery and courage beaten into you. And by the time we're done, you'll give us those parades and flowers, or you'll be very, very sorry."
posted by Green Voicemail 4/04/2004 09:32:00 PM
What An...Interesting Picture
This is from The Kathryn Cramer Blog . The actual picture above comes from Blackwater USA's own website. Out of all the places that discuss the four Blackwater employees who died in Iraq, this has the best info, put together nicely. It's a great blog and I'm adding it to the blogroll.
posted by Green Voicemail 4/04/2004 09:38:00 AM
An Interesting Article on the Outsourcing of American Security
From the Chicago Tribune (here is the link , although I suspect that you need to subscribe). It turns out that the four dead belonged to the Blackwater Security Firm -- which, oddly enough, supplies security for Iraq Proconsul Paul Bremer. I wonder who made that decision -- the United States Government, or Bremer?
"I think private security is going to be the stopgap. It's really cheaper for the U.S. government to have private security than to keep rotating forces in and out," said Tim Meyer, president of Meyer & Associates, a Texas-based security contractor active in Iraq.
Private firms also may be more politically palatable because they have a lower media profile, Meyer said, adding that "if something happens, private companies are a little less scrutinized than if something happens with the military."
Maybe this is what's needed. Some kind of "private security watch". We need to know who is paying these guys, what exactly they're being paid for, and who they're accountable to.
George W. Bush = lack of accountability
posted by Green Voicemail 4/04/2004 08:55:00 AM
